The Only Dragon
by ChocoDrake
Summary: The dragons were still trapped in crystal; leaving Spyro alone to save the day without any advice from his mentors. The doubt started to set in but... It's not like they were trapped in there forever or anything, right? ...Right?
1. The Calm Before The Storm

"Looks like I've got some things to do." Spyro's first thought was to kick that Gnasty Gnorc's butt and nothing else...well at least until he saw one of his kin trapped in crystal.

He was pretty sure this was Nestor. He liked to hang out in front of the Artisans castle, guarding or taking a walk? He wasn't sure. Never thought to ask him.

He nudged statue and waited, like he was expecting something. But...nothing happened. He should've expected nothing to be honest, he didn't know why he thought otherwise. He tried a few more things in attempt to free the captive, mostly stuff he knew like flaming and charging. Both didn't leave a dent but afterwards he was aware that maybe damaging the statue with the dragon still in it wasn't the best approach to this problem.

He wasn't sure what to do about this, however he decided to save it for later, _I'll be back_ , and walk away.

Heh... It was not like they were trapped in there forever or anything, right? ...Right?

* * *

There was a yellow dragonfly following him, the one that always did. What had his family called him? Sparks?

Oh, well. He wasn't sure why he was following him. Did Sparks want to be with his 'brother' or something? He was quite useful for picking up all the gems across the realm anyway. He was sure that's all he was good for that is until he went to Dark Hollow.

He was facing off with a Gnorc with a knife and metal shield. He flamed him from far away but it didn't do anything. Running it through with his horns did the trick though. Metal can't be flamed, only charged. He made a mental note of it for later.

Spyro jumped up some platforms. He saw a chest on top but ignored it as it was locked. On another platform was a Shield Gnorc and a big one brandishing a drum stick as a weapon. A very weird choice for a weapon if you asked him. He took out the shield one and turned to charge the big one, later he would find out that big enemies couldn't be charged but now he simply bonked on the it's big fat belly. The Gnorc, seeing the opportunity for attack, bashed him away. The hit threw him off the platform and rolling onto the grass below.

Woah... He was staring at the stars, wondering why that didn't hurt. It should have but it didn't.

Sparks came into view staring down at him to see if he was alright.

He was, but Sparks was blue now, different from his usual yellow. Why? "Why are you- Did- Did you protect me little buddy?" He asked.

Sparks buzzed in response. "But...are you hurt? Sparks?"

The dragonfly didn't make a peep.

"What can I do to help you?" He mused.

Sparks looked at the frogs hopping around and licked his lips.

"Oh, food?" He says, then remembers that butterflies tend to fly out of fodder and quickly disappear and now he knows why that happens.

"No..." He shakes his head, "Butterflies, right?"

A buzz.

"Butterflies it is then. Let's get you some."

* * *

Stone hill was pretty calming after getting his butt smacked by a Gnorc. Not as satisfying as flaming the Gnorc's butt in return but it's alright.

Then he fell into a well. He was only standing on the edge to look down into it but he lost his footing and down he went. The landing didn't hurt, his wings slowed his descent, but he found himself stuck down there. The only other things down here was a another trapped dragon and a locked chest.

He grimace trying to think of a way out of here when he saw a swirling vortex appear in front of him. He cocked his head to the side, like a confused puppy, and reached a paw out to touch it. The vortex suck him in like a drain, spinning him around and lifting him up and up till he saw the sunlight and found himself on the grass again.

Spyro dug his claws into the dirt and took a minute to get past the dizziness he was under. He groaned. He really hoped he didn't have to go through that again.

He was wrong, several times wrong in fact.

* * *

He stopped for a bit, taking the time to flame some chickens for himself and for Sparks who took some damage for him when he took on Town Square's escaped fighting bulls.

He sat there eating his flame charred chicken with a grimace. It was a bit overcooked; a chief he is not. Then he focused on his thoughts. Mostly it was about how to free the dragons from their crystal prison as the thought wouldn't leave his mind. It was taunting him, almost laughing at him even.

"Sparks? Did you hear that?" He could've swore he heard a distant 'Na na na na' from somewhere.

Sparks looked at him but was silent.

Spyro shrugged, figuring it was just his imagination.

* * *

"Hey, do you know where Gnasty Gnorc lives?" he asked Marco The Balloonist.

"You're looking to go to Gnorc territory, huh? You might want to talk to my brothers about that as I don't think I can travel that far. I would take you over to Peace Keepers but uh..." he trailed off.

"What's the matter?"

"There's this guy. Uh, he's called Toasty I think, and well he's been threatening to kill me if I ever left Artisans."

"Umm, well if I take out this...Toasty fella will you take me to Peace Keepers?" Spyro asked.

"You will? Yes, good dragon."

"Just play it cool, I'll be back." Then he ran off.

* * *

Spyro found the entrance to Toasty's lair was open. Normally the giant dragon head was closed but now it wasn't. He just figured he did something right and when in without a second thought.

Shepherds and dogs were the only thing standing in his way to the boss. Sparks did a good job protecting him until he could learn how the dogs attacked. He eventually found his way to another dragon trapped in crystal. He frowned but otherwise ignored it as he couldn't do anything for them.

He walked into a small arena with a dog, there was also a tall man in a cloak with a jack o lantern for a face. He was pretty sure this was Toasty or his name isn't Spyro and it is. He took out the dog and jumped over Toasty's scythe and flamed him.

"BAA!" Toasty bleated and hopped away into the next arena.

Wait a minute...

They were two more dogs he took out and he hit Toasty again burning off his cloak to find...

* * *

"H-He was a what?!" Marco sputtered.

"Yeah, just a sheep on stilts," Spyro answered him, shaking his head.

"Gracious, I was afraid of nothing. Still a deals a deal. Go on little dragon." The balloonist smiled.

Soon as Spyro jumped into the balloon they were off. As he saw Artisans, his home land fading away from view, a twang of anxiety hit him. He didn't know why but he had the feeling things were going to go wrong soon, somehow.

Guess he'll just have to wait and see.


	2. Spyro Got The Shemp

Things were starting to heat up, if the artillery and combative gnorcs were anything to go by. They were still easy enough to take out but still.

After clearing out the homeworld's treasure and...mooning gnorcs he went over to Gosnold the balloonist and asked him what was up as he seemed dismayed.

"I don't feel comfortable leaving my post until you gotten all that treasure, Spyro," he says.

"Okay...wait? How did you-"

"Word spreads around fast young dragon. Now go on, save the realm please?"

"Oh, alright then..." He stampers away heading towards one of the portals.

* * *

Spyro sat near the exit portal of Dry Canyon staring up at a high ledge. He could see a...dragon, some gems and a shiny gold thing that he just knew was the key to a far away chest on a ledge you had to take a, what seemed to be hours long glide to get to.

Now how would he get up there? He couldn't glide from here as it was too high to reach. That might be so but could he glide from somewhere else? And that's how Spyro found himself the edge of an opening in the back of the canyon. He sticked his head out looking around the canyon wall to his left. He couldn't see anything but he was sure this was the direction of that ledge he had his eyes on.

He took a deep breath and jumped off the edge opening his wings. He glided around the canyon wall then he saw the ledge come into view and he landed on it and nabbed that key.

Hmm... So, Dry Canyon does reward good gilders.

* * *

"Hmm...I wonder what's on the other side of that river?"

From the top of the Cliff Town's buildings he could see the other side of the purple river a cliff with gems sparkling in the distant. No point in wondering, he gotta get over their.  
He backed up till his tail hit the wall behind himself then he ran and jumped off.

Wind puffed up his opened wings slowing his descent. Gliding was always bliss, he felt free and calm though it was often short lived unfortunately. However the bliss he felt distracted him enough to underestimate how far was the gap was entirely. By the time he realized he wasn't gonna make the glide it was too late.

His claws hooked into the wall. Pure adrenaline pushed him to scramble his way up and over the ledge. Then he flopped down, belly resting against the warm sand, just breathing. He gazed down into the pit he almost fell into. Purple doom dark as the night with no way out of it once you fell in.

He let out a sigh of relief. "That was a close one, wasn't it Sparks?"

Sparks buzzed in dismay.

* * *

"Sparks? Sparks!" He called as he ran through the freezing caverns frantically looking for his dragonfly. He was nowhere to be found, after his most resent fight the little guy disappeared. No light, no soft buzzing, No nothing. He was alone in the Ice Caverns with nothing but the silence and it chilled him to the bone.

 _What happened to Sparks? After that fight... No... He better not be..._

"Sparks-" His shouts were cut off by frozen slush hitting his face. Then he tripped and tumbled head over heels. He felt something sharp rip across his side making him cry out. He tumbled to a stop near the edge of a cavern. Ignoring the pain in his side, he quickly turned to snarl at the gnorc and flamed it.

He stared with annoyance as the charred gnorc poofed back into a gem.

Spyro sighed looking back at the edge he almost fell off of. A trail of blood followed where he tumbled, some of the more sharp looking rocks where covered in the crimson. He grimaced now aware of the sticky warmth running down his side. Tentatively he moved his head to look at himself. Deep red streaks parted his scales. They went from his hind leg to his shoulder. Lines of blood trailed down from them to the ground.

 _Oh. Oh man. Jeez._

How was he gonna stop the blood? There was nothing he could use around here to staunch it. Uh... The cold was numbing his wounds so maybe it would stop the bleeding too? He would just have to deal with it and hope it got better. After all how could he find Sparks and save the day if he was dead?

* * *

He wasn't sure if taking on Dr. Shemp now was the best idea. His side thankfully stopped bleeding a long while ago but the pain was still there.

Whether it's from his injuries or not he found himself taking a more cautious approach, something most, even him, would not expect to see from Spyro. Which is ironic, considering the enemies charging in recklessly.

With this approach it was quite simple to get to Dr. Shemp's door step. He peeked over the ledge of the boss' platform.

Shemp was just standing around admiring himself saying stuff like 'look at me I'm so pretty' and 'oh mama, looking fine since the day I was born.' Spyro rolled his eyes at him.

Spyro glanced back at the dragon trapped in crystal behind him and frowned. He can only imagine the horrors of listening to this guy all day everyday.

He let go of the ledge when Shemp tried to bash him with his staff then he jumped onto the platform to start the fight. Spyro kept his distance, as Shemp was covered in metal and he didn't really know how to attack him yet, but as he turned around to do a cool move he saw his bare armorless butt. Spyro grinned.

Bingo.

He flamed him in the butt and Shemp hopped away trying to put out his flaming bottom. Spyro chuckled in amusement and chased after.  
Shemp may have changed up his attacks but it made no difference as Spyro fought accordingly.

He jumped over Shemp's staff and nabbed the final hit on the boss. But just after he got the final hit the staff came back around and whacked him off the platform. He managed to hook his claws into the wall and he struggled back up towards the ledge.

 _Not again! I can make it, I can-_

Then he heard it.

The crumbing of rock under his paws and his eyes widened.

Then the ground slipped out from underneath his paws and he fell backwards towards the purple doom.

* * *

AN/

In the original games the developers had an inside joke that whenever something went wrong they'd say someone got the Shemp. This is where the title of this chapter comes from. Spyro got the Shemp.


	3. Recovery

It was quiet in the Peace Keepers homeworld. Gosnold, the balloonist, didn't know why but he had a bad feeling, like something was off...wrong somehow.

There was no gnorcs as Spyro had already taken them out long ago. Now that he thought of it, where was the little dragon anyway? He hadn't heard from him in some time. He thought the dragon would be done by now but he figured he underestimated how much time that would take.

He started to make his way back to his balloon but he tripped over something. He pushed himself up, feeling something bumpy but soft through his gloves.

He looked at what he tripped over; it was Spyro. Gosnold gawked, horror over coming him as he realized how eerily still the young dragon was. Gosnold gently rolled him over and flinched when he saw the gashes on his flank. His yellow underbelly was a bit red too, almost like sunburn but he knew better. Though he really he hoped it wasn't what he thinks it is.

Gosnold lightly shook the dragon but got no response from him. He bit his lip from behind his scarf glancing away, looking for something. Anything. There wasn't really anything around close by, although he saw a trail in the sand that looked like the dragon had dragged himself across before collapsing but he couldn't pay any mind to that.

The gash on his flank was oozing blood and he didn't think twice about it, he removed his scarf and pressed it against the wound. That was his favorite scarf but he could always get another one, he couldn't get another dragon.

Spyro groaned, weakly pawing at his hands.

"Spyro it's me. It's me. It's okay." Gosnold told him, "Can you tell me what happened!?"

The dragon took a breath and opened his mouth. He was silent for a bit, like he was having trouble speaking. "...Fell..." Was all he managed to say. All that was needed to say.

The balloonist's stomach dropped, knowing that what he feared was correct. He did fall into the purple water.

Gosnold scooped the dragon up with much difficulty, he was heaver then he looked, and walked off to a clean pool.

"Tired..." Spyro mumbled.

"You can't sleep now, young dragon. Not until you've had a bath."

Spyro groaned.

"I gotta get that... gunk off of you. After a bath and drink then you can rest okay?"

"...Mmkay."

He gently dropped the dragon into the pool, careful to keep his head above the water. He used the scarf to gently scrub off the gunk, he thought he looked a bit darker than usual but now with all that gunk off his scales he looked better.

He wringed out the scarf then went to clean his face. He wiped down his horns, main and made sure to get in between those scales then dripped a small amount of water in his eyes just to be sure.

Gosnold got startled as the dragon lifted his head to sneeze. _At least he has no goop in his nose now._ Taking advantage of his partial consciousness, he laid Spyro's snout at the lip of the pond and managed to make him drink.

He sighed, admiring his work. The dragon was now clean of goop. His wounds were a bit red and might be infected so he had to take care of that when he got back to base. He picked up the dragon and took off.

* * *

When he walked into the room he found Spyro glaring at the ceiling. "What do you think those unicorns are up to Sparks?" he growled. "I don't trust them."

Oh, dear...he might have gave him too much painkillers.

He put down a plate of hot vulture in front of him. The young dragon looked down at it, gave a 'ooooooo!' then dug in. Gosnold could only smile as he enjoyed his cooking. Flame broiled with a pinch of salt... Maximos always had the best recipes, he mused.

It's been a few days since he brought him to the barracks. Luckily his wounds did not worsen, in fact and they were well on their way to healing completely, but the dragon still came down with fever a while back. Wasn't totally sure why but it was probably the goop he fell in. Sparks came back at some point too, wasn't sure when he did either, but it was a relief to the balloonist nonetheless.

He grimaced as a thought came to him.

 _What if...?_

What if this was his fault? Spyro getting injured? Was that his fault? He did tell him to get the treasure. But he just wanted to make sure they were no gems around that could be turned into monsters, but he didn't expect the possibly of a casualty either.

"It's not your fault," said Spyro with a mouthful of food, as if he had read his mind.

"Huh?"

He swallowed. "Not your fault. It's goop's fault. He has it out for me, he's a meany pants." Then he went back to eating.

Gosnold went completely silent... Then he burst into laughter.

* * *

A week has passed now and Spyro is now more coherent. Every time Gosnold checks up on him he always seems to be buried in a book, he didn't think the dragon was the type to read. Well, he's an Artisans' dragon after all. He did ask for some books and he got them.

The young dragon himself was laying on the rug in the breakroom reading a book.

He looked over the dragon's shoulder looking at what he was reading. "A shipping fic? Really?"

Spyro almost dropped the book in surprise. He looked over the books edge looking very embarrassed.

"I...um...but um...I...I don't know why I'm reading this..."

Gosnold chuckled. It's funny how flustered this dragon became at times. "How are you feeling today?"

"Fine... it's just..." He trailed off.

"Something on your mind?"

"Yeah. It's just I've been feeling bad lately, uh mentally bad I mean. Like when you feel a storm coming on soon, well it's not really a storm but..."

"You have a bad feeling?"

"These books are reminding me of my family you know? I haven't been able to free them yet either I..."

Gosnold replied, "I'm sure you'll think of something."

Spyro kept frowning. "But what if I can't?"

"Well...I guess you'll just have to move on in the worst case. I think that's what they would want you to do."

Spyro gave a small smile but said nothing.

"Hey, what chapter are you on?"

Spyro groaned smacking his face into the book.

* * *

"I meant it."

"What?"

"Sometime ago, I think I said it's not your fault. I meant it."

Gosnold didn't know what to say to that.

"I had to say this before I left to Magic Crafters. I'm right y'know?"

"I..." he shook his head.

"Forget about it." Spyro said.

"But I asked you-"

"I was going to do it anyway, there was no stopping me."

"Alright. I still feel bad though."

"I'll be okay, you know me."

Gosnold, smiled despite himself. Spyro wounds had healed, leaving nothing but nasty scars on his flank, the scars of a Peace Keeper. "You ready to go?"

Spyro nodded.

A pang of sadness hit him but he told himself it was alright though he was gonna miss the little guy once he was gone. "Hey," he said, "If you get into trouble I'm always here."

Spyro smiled. "Thank you, Gosnold."

* * *

 **A/N**

 **At first the Balloonists didn't have a much of a role in this fic but I needed someone else to be around for some of the plot points to work. The Balloonists were most likely the only ones hanging around if you cut out all the dragons.**

 **What Spyro was reading was a shipping fic made by one of the dragons. I'll let you decide who wrote it and what it's about.**

 **By the way I don't get the remastered game until Christmas and I don't want to really spoil myself so if things are a bit different that's why. I've played the original games a lot, Spyro 1 in particular so I know a thing or two at least. :P**


	4. Shock To The System

Magic Crafters wasn't much more dangerous than Peace Keepers. Instead of Gnorc Soldiers in his way there was Wizards and Druids that tried to impede his progress by moving the environment and liked to laugh at him.

The silence was a little deafening without anyone to talk to but the buzzing of Sparks by his side helped to keep him grounded in reality.

He sighed. He had a lot of work to do.

* * *

They didn't call it Alpine Ridge for nothing. Good thing he wasn't afraid of heights otherwise the bottomless pits beneath the platforms would drive him nuts. Still kinda did drive him nuts but not as much as those hulking beasts that tried to chomp on him for breakfast. However a good flame set them straight.

There was a Druid that was trying to stop him. He was on an opposite ledge Spyro had to glide to. He waited and watched what the Druid did. He raised the ground up for a moment then down. Sure the Druid could've kept the ledge up and completely prevent Spyro from continuing but that wasn't what he wanted Spyro knew. The Druid was trying to kill him.

Spyro sat there watching the Druid continue to move the land up and down.

Up

...Down

...Up

...Down

...Up!

Spyro leapt off the platform and gild while it was still up. He timed it right and what he expected happened. The Druid lowered the ground letting the him past. He smirked.

The Druid could only hear the sound of a plane crashing as the dragon glid his way down to his pray, the fact nothing he did would make a different anymore made the Druid give a pathetic scream and try to escape.

He failed.

* * *

Spyro ran for his life.

 _Why did it have to be spiders!?_

 _And why are they made out of metal!?_

He yelled and lunged out of the cave into the light again. The spiders did not follow after him.

He took a breath and looked around. He spotted a curious thing, a line of arrow panels in the floor lead up to a cave; it was a ramp. He hummed walking up to the top of it. He was sure the arrows were telling him to run down the ramp and off to the caves in the distance, though how would he get that much speed?

He shrugged, deciding to just go with it anyway. He ran down the ramp and, much to his surprise, he ran faster then he ever had in his life.

It was only fun for a second then he realized he was out of control. He was too panicked to aim for any cave or land and by the time he became aware he was too low to save himself. He covered his face with his paws as he fell. Then he stopped falling. He moved his a paws from his face and saw fairies carrying him with their magic.

He chuckled sheepishly. "Heh, thanks girls."

* * *

Spyro pranced right out of Blowhard's portal with a smile on his face. He beamed at a job well done.

Roasting the realm's boss sure made him hungry. He turned to Sparks, the dragonfly was a sickly green color, he must be hungry too. "Hey, we should stop and get something to eat when we get to Beast Makers."

Sparks gave a mix of a sigh and a buzz, relieved.

Spyro licked his lips, he heard Beast Makers had chicken. Maybe he wouldn't burn it this time.

Magic Crafter's balloonist had his back turned, just staring at his hot air balloon.

"S'up Tuco!" Spyro greeted.

Tuco jumped and turned to face the dragon, eyes wide open in terror. He quickly looked left and right like he was frantically looking for something. Spyro frowned, the balloonist was acting strangely and he felt something was off here.

"...Are you okay?" Spyro asked tentatively, "I cleared out the realm so it should be safe-"

"-Please tell me you got the eggs."

"What?"

"The dragon eggs!?"

Spyro blinked, brows furrowing in disbelief. _What? Wait- No that can't be right can it? What...?_ The tension in the air was so strong he held his breath in anticipation as he asked a question he really didn't want the answer to but needed to hear. "What happened to the dragon eggs...?"

The balloonist paled. "The- the dragon eggs... They were stolen a- a few weeks ago-"

His small heart skipped a beat. That was all the young dragon needed to hear but he could not recognize it in his mind.

 _No_

"-And if you don't have them then that means...!"

 _NO_

 _NONONONONONONONONO_

 _ANCESTORS NO!_

He's lost the elders he couldn't have lost the eggs too! For gods sake they weren't even born yet!

"Spyro?"

His eye twitched and Spyro started to hyperventilate unbeknownst to himself.

Tuco grabbed the dragon's shoulders. "Spyro buddy? You okay? Speak to me." The balloonist shook him, voice rising in concern.

Spyro couldn't hear nor see anything it was as if his mind had already shut down. His body soon turned off as well, his legs giving out under him and he slipped out of Tuco's hands to collapse flat on the grass.

The last thing Spyro felt was the balloonist frantically shaking him.


	5. Turning Point

"Where did those egg thieves go? I'll torch them!" Spyro snarled.

He was in a tent in a base camp somewhere, he didn't care to know where. The balloonist must've dragged him here after he passed out. The balloonist shook his head. "They're probably long gone by now," Tuco said dejectedly.

Spyro could not accept that. "Where do you think they're headed?"

"To Gnork Territory? Outside the dragon realms? I don't know. You wouldn't be able to track them all down in time. I... I don't know what to tell you. I'm sorry."

Spyro gave a sigh. "Will you take me to beast keepers at least? I need to beat Gnasty Gnork."

"Yeah..." the balloonist chuckled humorlessly, "Sure."

Spyro followed him to the balloon and sat inside it while Tuco was lighting it up. Spyro stared off into the distance while gripping the edge of the balloon's basket, he couldn't help but have a vicious snarl on his face as the thoughts swirled in his mind making his grip turn into a deadly one.

Then he sighed, letting his claws drop to the floor. He didn't want to rip the basket's weaving.

Most of the trip was rode out in silence as neither was feeling like talking much. At this point, was there anything else to say?

* * *

"GNASTY GNORK YOU'VE RUINED MY LIFE!"

Any other time if any one else were to scream to the heavens like he was doing right now Spyro would call them dramatic but now he was too pissed to care. It was true after all; Gnasty was the cause of all this. The elders, his scars, the eggs. Though the last two was caused inadvertently if he never trapped the elders none of this would of ever happened.

 ** _Gah!_**

He didn't care anymore.

He. Just. Didn't. Care.

He needed to get through and kill him. That's all he wanted at this point; revenge.

And boy... he would get it.

* * *

Tree tops was hell to get around. One false move and he would fall to his death. Other ugly monsters tried to knock him off too but he wasn't having it and burned them to death.

What was he even hear for? Gems? He found a thief running around the supercharge pads and the sight made him see red. It took a long time, and he didn't know how, but he found his way to the island in the distant where that gold thief was.

The second his feet touched the ground the Thief yipped and started running only for Spyro to be close behind. There was nowhere to run or hide on such a small island.

It didn't take long.

Spyro lunged at him and the Thief looked over his shoulder to see the dragon in mid lunge teeth and claws bared to kill. The Thief didn't have the time to even scream before Spyro's fangs sunk into his neck. The taste of ichor briefly met Spyro's tongue then the Thief poofed into nothing but gold rags and...gems.

Damn!

He was just a gem thief! He had no egg.

He took out his frustrations on the Thief's remaining clothes, ripping and shredding them like a mad dog. His tail, which was whipping around in his rampage, hit something hard.

He yanked his tail back to rub it, while hissing in pain he turned to look at what he hit. A dragon trapped in crystal wobbled from it's perch dangerously close to the edge. He paled about to lunge for it but then it stopped. He let out a sigh of relief.

The relief was short lived as a lighting bolt struck right in front of Spyro sending him to the floor. It didin't hit him, if Sparks yellowness told him anything, Spyro only got up in time to see the statue careening off the edge. He ran to the edge of the island but there was nothing he could do, he watched in horror as it fell into the darkness never to be seen again. Probably shattered at the bottom of the chasm.

Spyro's screams could be heard for miles.

* * *

He didn't really feel like going on but he had to, the task at hand helped him keep his mind off things. It only helped a little however.

Spyro kept his gaze on the ground as it felt difficult to even lift his head for anything other than to flame the occasional adversary. He came up to a tree trunk and managed to lift his head to look. He saw a dragon trapped in crystal and immediately averted his gaze, not feeling worthy enough to even look at his elders.

Then he heard a ribbit behind him. He slowly turned around to face his next challenger; a...frog?

 _Okay then. Alright._

He also flamed the thing but not before getting whipped by it's tongue. He looked back at Sparks to see that he was blue now, Yikes.

He jumped back narrowly avoiding a another frog's tongue lash, he burned that one. Then another one took the opening it was given and lashed him on the side, he rammed it. More and more just kept coming. He keened from pain as Sparks could no longer take the blunt of it anymore.

 _That's enough._

A loud scream rose from his throat; a battle cry of pain and anger. Then he Lost himself to fire and blood lust.

* * *

Cray the balloonist was threw a stone into the swamp and, with amusement, watched it skip across the water. He heard someone approach and glanced over his shoulder. _Ah, it's the purple and red dragon_ , he thought smiling.

 _Wait... red!?_

The balloonist spun around, shuddering when he saw him. " Ancestors... What happened to you?"

Spyro looked like a flogging victim. Angry red tears lined across his body. Large portions of scales were charred. He was covered in blood but most of it must not have been his. If it was he didn't know how the dragon limped his way here with that kind of blood loss.

"Hey..." Spyro smiled sheepishly, "Take me to Dream Weavers will ya?"

* * *

 **A/N**

Whelp... Sorry Jed.

Seems Spyro got a bit mad. Don't worry he'll calm down a bit soon.

Thanks for all the favs, watches and reviews. I really appreciate it. Have a nice day everyone. 3

 **Reviews:**

Arcantos the Storyteller: Yeah, things are not looking so good for Spyro right now. He didn't notice the egg thieves and by the time he recovered in chapter 3 they were long gone.

Guest: I didn't know Orcs had gods. Maybe I shall look into this more, it's interesting. Gnasty Gnorc is definitely going to pay the Blood Price at this rate.


	6. Brake Down

The balloonists were considered the grapevine of the dragon realms due to their great communication with each other and habit of gathering info. They usually have dragonflies or fairies to deliver letters to each other. The latter normally used only for great urgency as fairies got around much faster than anyone else could. Gosnold wasn't happy to say the least when a fairy informed him of what happened to Spyro.

Of how the fairies saw him acting out and how got himself wounded again.

He should've known Spyro would snap. But, like a idiot, he didn't and now Spyro was in Beast Makers with Cray or at least he thought he was. He arrived at Beast Makers as soon as he could but he came up short. There was no dragon here. He asked Cray where Spyro was, despite having a feeling he knew the answer.

"You did what!?"

Cray shuttered. "I-I. He was adamant in going to Dream Weavers."

"Why did you take him?"

"I don't know! He wouldn't tell me anything."

"Cray..." Gosnold groaned, facepalming.

"I know, I messed up."

"I already sent a 'carrier pigeon' to the others now let's go." He grabbed Cray's hand and yanked him along.

"Wha? Where are we going?"

Gosnold almost groaned again at his cluelessness. He didn't really have time for this. "To Dream Weavers? To stop Spyro from getting himself killed!?"

"What!?"

"I'm not cleaning up your spilled milk for you. You're coming with."

Cray gulped.

* * *

Spyro stretched as he woke up. He winced when one of the gems he was laying on jabbed into a wound on his side. He had made a little gem nest to sleep in. The gems radiated enough heat to fight off the cold of Dark Passage. Some dragons like to sleep on gems, Spyro wasn't one of them. It was a bit too lumpy and he much preferred a bed or some grass. He had already cleared out the place of any danger so there was nothing to worry about.

The dragon stood up yawning and quietly snuck away from his gem nest careful not to wake Sparks. He decided to let him sleep in.

Sparks woke up a few minutes later in a panic frantically looking for his dragon only to see Spyro in the distance terrorizing the local mushroom population. The dragonfly picked up all the gems that made up the nest and flew over to Spyro.

Spyro was chowing down on a mushroom. From the sounds he was making he seemed to like the taste at least. Or maybe he was starving. Sparks knew he was.

The dragonfly scarfed down an entire butterfly and buzzed in content.

"Sparks...?" The dragon trailed off. His voice was almost inaudible and sounded...not like himself.

The dragonfly buzzed in alarm. Spyro seemed okay a few seconds ago.

Spyro gave a sad smile but sighed. "Really... is there any point to this?"

Sparks chirped loudly. He wished he could talk.

"I guess... Even if there isn't I should save the dragon realms anyway, so it's safe when... they... get... back..." He trailed off with a croak.

Sparks cooed. He knew what the dragon needed right now. He flew up and landed on Spyro's shoulder and nuzzled the dragon's neck. Sparks felt Spyro flinch at the touch then slowly relax into it and lay down. Then Spyro's breath became uneven and he covered his face with his wings, hiding himself from the world.

Throughout all they went through, Sparks never saw Spyro cry before.

He was both filled with relief and sympathy at seeing the dragon finally letting out the tears he pent-up for so long.

The dragonfly just snuggled into his neck and let the dragon cry it out. They were going to be there for a while but Sparks didn't mind, he would give Spyro all the time he needed.

* * *

Claustrophobia choked Spyro when he realized he was trapped. He had killed the wizard but that did nothing to stop the indestructible armor it had brought to life. There was no way back.

All he had left was a door which he rammed open. There floating in the middle of the room was a fairy in orange.

Spyro sighed in relief. "Boy, am I glad to see you."

"I could say the same," the fairy smiled then frowned when she saw how puffy his eyes were. "..Have you been crying?"

"No! I... I mean no. I haven't. My eyes are just itchy that's all." He chuckled.

"Ah, that's alright. Need a charge?" She planted a kiss on his cheek and made him have that same type of glow superflame gave him. "That boost will last until you leave through a portal."

"Really?" Spyro beamed. "Thanks uh-"

"Blossom." She smiled.

"See ya around, Blossom." Spyro ran off.

Blossom chuckled. "What a silly dragon.

* * *

Jacques' lair was weird and dangerous like the entirety of the Dream Weavers was.

But now, as he faced off with Jacques, it seemed just a tad more dangerous. Not because of the manic jack in the box himself, he's fought harder opponents before, but because of the fact he was well aware of the lava far below the platform they were standing on. Once he fell in he sure as heck wasn't getting out.

And that bothered him.

"What?" He heard Jacquse cackle at him. "Afraid of a little... orange juice."

That's not any juice he wants.

"Shut up," Spyro spat, "You're not even supposed to talk."

He charged up to Jacques and flamed him, causing the jack in the box to bounce off with a yip.

Spyro hopped into a whirlwind and gild after him to another platform. He flamed him again at the same time Jacques threw a box and just as the jack in the box poofed back into gems, Spyro was hit by that box and thrown off the ledge.

 _Ancestors! Not again!_

Only by luck he managed to hook his claws into the edge. He looked down and he really shouldn't have. The purple doom was pulling him down- No it wasn't pulling him down. The ledge was crumbling out from underneath him! Spyro squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered.

Then he heard a buzz.

He opened his eyes and saw Sparks staring down at him concerned.

Spyro stared back at him confused as he slowly came back to reality. He looked over his shoulder down at the purple doom only to find it's lava instead. The ground he was hooked in is steady and he wouldn't fall unless he let go.

He took a deep breath, calming himself, then he started to swing his hind legs back and forth. It took a few tries but his hind claws eventually found perch. Then he pushed himself up on the platform with ease.

Sparks buzzed, tilting his head to the side.

Spyro gave a tired smile. "I'm alright buddy."

 _So that's how you get up._

* * *

Spyro exited the portal back into Dream Weavers. He stretched and when he looked up he saw something that surprised him.

He saw two balloonists standing before him.

"Gosnold and Cray? What are you doing here?" Spyro asked.

"Spyro..." Gosnold started. "It's time to go home."

Spyro raised a brow. "Nope...Not done yet."

"You can finish your revenge quest later y'know," Cray said, shrinking under the gaze of both dragon and fellow balloonist.

"I don't want to do it later."

Gosnold took a step towards him and Spyro took a step back.

"Look at you! All banged up. You'd be no match against Gnasty like this."

"It's not _that_ bad." Spyro looked to his left for an escape route. There was a balloon. The owner of said balloon, Amos was staring up at the sky... daydreaming? Whatever he was doing made him completely oblivious to the scene going on behind him.

"Spyro-"

"No!" Spyro shook his head, "You don't understand."

 _If I don't do this now I won't have the willpower to do it later._

"Spyro please-" Gosnold took another step and Spyro crouched down low like he was preparing to pounce. Both balloonists froze.

The dragon looked like a cornered animal, and technically in this situation he was. Gosnold and Cray looked tense, almost like they were afraid of him. He wouldn't hurt them though, he couldn't.

"...We're not going to hurt you..." Gosnold said slowly.

"I know," Spyro said, glancing behind him at the balloon again. He looked back at them, then at the balloon again. He heard Gosnold start to slowly approach him and he sighed. Spyro had to make a decision now.

And he made his decision.

Spyro burst into a sprint and took off towards the balloon before the two could react. He slashed through the rope that anchored the balloon down which finally alerted the daydreaming balloonist.

"Huh! What are you do-oooainng!" Spyro leapt on Amos' head and bounced off into the balloon's basket. The momentum of his body pushed the balloon off the platform and into the air. Spyro flamed up into the balloon to help reignite it.

After a few moments he looked back to see Amos and the other balloonists in the distance staring off at him in shocking disbelief.

"Sorry! I'm just borrowing it!" He yelled at them. "I'll bring it back!"

Slowly but surely Dream Weavers faded away till he could see nothing but the vibrant sky and clouds. Spyro leaned against the edge of the basket. Wherever he was going, he hoped he was heading in the right direction.

* * *

 **A/N**

We're not talking about some dumb mail fraud scheme or hijacking here. Spyro did steal a balloon. :P

Next chapter should be the final one and don't forget about the epilogue too.

Have a nice day folks. :)

 **Reviews:**

 **Wizardwolf 1020:** Not sure what to tell you Wolf. There's a reason why I put tragedy as the genre on this. There's no explanation for the eggs now but when we get to Spyro 3 things might start looking up for them.

 **Guest:** I love how you talk about how much Gnasty messed up :)

 **Arcantos the Storyteller:** Nope. I think I knew I was gonna axe someone off but I wasn't sure who. It was just bad luck that I picked him is all. Yeah, I'm not even sure where I got the idea for this AU either. :p I tend to have problems with making things a bit short. I'm trying to work on that. Thanks for your kind words. 3


	7. End Of The Road

**A/N: Sorry it took so long. Burn out hit me hard. This is the end of the road, I will post an epilogue soon but after that we'll go to the next game. :)**

* * *

"How the heck do I land this thing?!" Spyro panicked as land came in view and came up fast. He tried pulling up on the basket and fiddling with the controls but he didn't know a thing he was doing. He winced and snapped his eyes closed as the basket hit the ground. Thankfully the balloon didn't tip over. In fact nothing else happened so Spyro opened his eyes to see he successfully landed.

 _Oh... okay._

He hopped out of the basket and used the remainder of the rope to tie the balloon down to a post. After making sure the balloon wasn't going anywhere the dragon looked around to see where he landed. It was a pier but it didn't really look like one. More like a round platform in the middle of the ocean, it made him feel more self conscious of the fact he didn't know how to swim yet more than ever. There was three giant dragon heads, all closed except for one in which laid a portal.

Then he saw a sign that read; Welcome to _my_ world...now get out. ~Gnasty Gnork.

Spyro snarled eyes narrowed as he glared at the sign as if it just threatened him. This was a outright insult to his existence. He ripped it out of the floor and tossed it into the sea.

He jumped when he heard someone behind him mumble loudly and he whipped around. He found a balloonist in gray and a cyan scarf. Said balloonist was starting to stir from the place he was laying down mumbling nonsense.

Spyro froze, holding his breath. The balloonist eventually settled down again and fell back to sleep. He let out a breath of relief.

He really didn't want to deal with anyone else right now.

He looked around again and saw three dragon heads. One of them was opened and inside had a portal that lead to twilight harbor. Needing to go on, and having no where else to go at this point, Spyro decided to head towards the portal, slowly tiptoeing so as to not wake the balloonist. He climbed into the dragon mouth, wasn't gonna take the risk of jumping as he didn't know if that would be too loud, and hopped into the portal.

* * *

"I can't believe he stole my balloon," Amos sat on the ground musing to himself.

"I know," Cray, who was siting next to him, said, "Hey do you know where Gossy went?"

Amos shrugged then Gosnald walked in sighing.

"Whats wrong...besides the whole...thing.?"

Gosnald looked at him, not even being able to muster a glare. He dropped to the floor sighing again.

"Hey uh you still have your balloons right?" Amos said.

"I only brought mine. It has a leak and I have no spare patches," Gosnald sighed.

"You think Spyro's alright?" Cray said, "alone with the balloon?"

Gosnald buried his face in his hands, groaning. Amos shot Cray a glare.

"Just wondering..."

Amos shook his head.

"This is my fault I just know it," Gosnald said, "If only hadn't- If only I went with him."

"Don't be hard on yourself Gossy; we all failed." Cray said.

Amos jabbed him in the side with his elbow. "Of all the ways this could've gone I don't think you've could've done anything. You thing going with him would've solved it? How would Spyro feel if you gotten hurt or worse? I don't think he would've let you come along anyway. He won't say it but he lost everything he won't let himself lose you either."

"That...doesn't help me right now." Gosnald said. "Ancestors have mercy... just leave me alone for a while." He got up and left.

Seems like we'll be here for a while.

"So..." Cray said, "What'cha been up to?"

Amos glared at him and shook his head.

* * *

Heavy technology? Machine guns? Explosives?! Where did he get- Why does he have all of this?...He was literally starting a war on the dragon realms. The crystal spell was a nuke and his army was for clearing out anything else.

This needs to end now, he thought. Even if there's nothing left and the dragon realms is in disarray. Even if it's just for his and the survivors safety he has to stop this once and for all.  
But there was something he had to do first. Even if it's dangerous and it will not change a thing, he had to know...why?

"HEY YOU!" He yelled up at Gnasty who gazing down at the dragon from a high platform..

Spyro leaped out of the way of a spell that Gnasty shot from his staff. Sparks let out a long drawn out buzz of nervousness, as if to say "Are you sure about this?"

"I WANNA TALK TO YOU!" And again another spell was shot at him. "Why have you done all of this anyway!?"

Gnasty razed a brow at the little dragon and gave a snort. He seemed a bit confused Spyro hadn't tried to get at him yet. Although he ceased fire for now his grip was still tight on his staff.

"...They had it coming," The Gnork finally answered.

"Really?" Spyro spat, "Mind telling me what for?"

To his surprise Gnasty chuckled. "You're just a stupid baby."

Spyro was blown away by the insult. _What the-_ It took all of his self control to prevent himself from spewing curses at the gnork. _Cool it, Spyro._

 _Not yet._

"You're naive, I would pity you if I didn't hate your kind. Exiling me to this dump and insulting me behind my back."

Spyro sighed letting his shoulders slump. "Have you ever wondered why you were exiled in the first place?"

Gnasty narrowed his eyes at him.

"From what I've heard from...someone, you've done a great bit of damage in your time especially to the realm itself..." Spyro spoke slowly, it was the most methodical he'd ever been in his life. "Do you know were we like to blow up stuff just for fun? The dump. No one minds if you blown up trash."

Gnasty thought about this only to be interrupted as Spyro continued.

"But... This does not excuse genocide!" Spyro snarled, "So what they called you names? Smack talk them back. You could've said screw you to the dragon realms and left to find someone who actually likes you! But you didn't! ...The elders had every right to banish you."

Gnasty pointed his staff at the dragon. "And your point is...?"

"It doesn't matter..." Spyro looked up with a cold glare, then with a dark tone he finished his sentence. "Cause you're dead anyway."

* * *

He had to give it to the little dragon, he was really determined to kill him. Not that he would ever let him get that close to him anyway, but Spyro was gaining on him. Heck the dragon didn't even care for the gems he left out on the path for the exact purpose of distracting him.

At the end of their third loop around the path Gnasty felt a flash of fire scorch across his back. He grunted and ducked into the building with Spyro close behind. Gnasty took a mighty leap across the lava filled room, muttering a spell under his breath.

The platforms quickly moved into to wall attempting to block off the dragon. Even his last trick was not enough to stop Spyro from reaching Gnasty at the end as he jumped across the platforms with ease.

Gnasty inwardly panicked, shooting his crystal spell at the dragon desperately trying to blast him. Spyro leapt over one of the shots and the world seemed to slow down for the both of them. Spyro had his front legs out stretched, claws out and teeth bared. Seconds later the smell of burning flesh hit Gnasty and then the pain told him it was his own flesh being cooked.

The last thing Gnasty felt was a pare of jaws clamping down on his jugular then nothing.

* * *

Hak the balloonist awoke to the smell of smoke and burning wood. He stirred, before realizing that was pretty normal for Gnork Gnexis. Still he yawned and stretched, deciding it was time to get up anyway.

He saw another balloon on the other side of the pier tied down and unattended. Seems someone came to visit. But who? And where were they?

He turned and froze at the sight of black smoke high up in the distant sky. _That's way too much smoke to be just from the boilers... Wait-_

That's the Treasury! Hak realized. _The Treasury is on fire!_

* * *

Spyro flew out of Gnasty's secret room escaping the quickly rising flames, kindled by the many love letters spread across the floor.

The dragon collected all of the treasure that rightfully belonged to him now. He burned Gnasty's picture on the wall, effectively destroying the last remnant of his face off this world. He never wanted to see the gnork again for as long as he lived.

He sat down on one of the many buildings and watched Gnasty's room burn, not able to do anything to put it out and not wanting to. He didn't want move either, his legs wouldn't will himself to go back to home as he feared his quest would be for not.

He knew he would go home only to see those dragons trapped in crystal never to be released, and he didn't know how he would handle that. What was the point of this? This entire disaster happened for a stupid reason and now there was no way of fixing it.

"What a joke..." Spyro muttered, staring down at his paws

Sparks stayed close to his dragon, keeping silent as he gazed into the flames himself unable to find anyway to make this right.

After all what can you do when you're the last of your kind-

the only dragon.


	8. Epilogue

The dragon realms felt brighter somehow. It was as if the weight of the world had just lightened, if only a little.

In the middle of repairing their balloon to leave Dream Weavers, the balloonists had stared in awe at all of the dragonflies that accumulated in the homeworld. Tens, hundreds of dragonflies old, young and recently orphaned from Gnasty's war buzzed in conversation with one another. Talk lost loved ones and the state of the war itself.

From what the balloonists heard the gnorks were in a panic. Most of them fled from the Dragon Realms, all of their previous bravado gone in an instant.

There was only one reason for such a mass retreat; Their leader was dead.

Relief filled them all for only a minute.

Where was Spyro?

The question itself filled them with dread. Despite the dragon's presumed victory they only expected the worst.

Fortunately their fears were unfounded when the eldest balloonist Hak arrived with the purple dragon in tow.

Physically Spyro wasn't worse for wear but mentally...

After a short talk, the balloonists all decided to go back to Artisans. They set up a base camp in a place absent of crystal dragons as exposing Spyro to the casualties of the Gnasty conflict wasn't even a suggestion.

Hak, guilty he hadn't been much help in the conflict, decided to join Tuco in the search of the dragon eggs. But the search itself started out slow and by ways things are going they wonder if the eggs were still intact. The thought of what might happen or what already happened to them greatly disturbed the two.

Marco, much like Hak and Tuco, went on a search of his own after two dragonflies familiar to him told of the disappearance of Flame and Ember, two young dragons under his care that he sent into hiding not long after the conflict. Marco as well went missing on the occasion, he's responses few and far between but the others knew he was still alive out there somewhere.

Amos and Cray went off to gather up any leftover supplies in the Dragon Realms so they could go on a journey to find survivors in hope not all dragons were crystallized. A pipe dream but they didn't want to give up hope yet. No one really did.

And Gosnald stayed at the base watching over the purple dragon. To say he wasn't worried leaving the dragon alone for even an hour for the first week would be a lie. Maybe that was for the best at the start. Spyro himself would barely eat or drink. He didn't want to leave the house and, heck, even with the offer of going to Dragon Shores, a place he always wanted to go to ever since he was little, he still turned it down. Gosnald joined Sparks in the problem of not knowing what to do about Spyro in general. They just let him grieve while supporting him every step of the way.

They would always be there for him until he got better and even after.

No matter how long it would take.

* * *

 **A/N;**

 **What can I say? It's been a long road but there is still somethings I must address.**

 **This AU has been in my mind for a while laying dormant. A few years ago, I think, I tried to draw some art and a poem of this AU but it didn't really go anywhere. Recently, when I was watching speedruns of Spyro 2 I thought how would it be like live in the many different worlds. Then I thought of a tired Spyro setting down and living among the residence but next I thought why would Spyro do that? Why is he sad and stuff? Then it clicked why not have it part of this AU? And now we're here.**

 **I can't belie we're here. At the end of Spyro 1. By the way I plan to do the all the games in this AU, but it might take awhile.**

 **To answer a question from someone, a review from fanfic but I thought it's important enough to leave here anyway.**

 **Even if they did, I don't think it really matters if the gnorks came back. Sure the dragon realms is a ghost town now mostly inhabited by balloonists and dragonflies but Spyro would still guard it if need be. If Spyro can take Gnasty's army he can take on any other ones too. No worries the realms won't be empty for long. ;)**

 **Also the egg problem will be solved in a later story. But I'll leave you with this; the eggs are okay but they are not in the dragon realms. You could guess where they are though, it's really obvious. :p**

 **Anyway, ha this A/N is almost longer then the final chapter itself, see you in the sequel A Bad Day.**


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